Conquering Addictions

I have lots of thoughts this morning as I look out at the sleet hitting the ground that has called off school for the 423rd time this winter. I hope that you do not have a vacation planned in June because our kids will be in school on Independence Day. I know that our Conquering Addictions team from the GAP ministry held a training last night and I just wanted to give you some thoughts about that. It begins on March 19 at 6:30 in Room AS206 at Mineral Area College (AS is the main building where most classes meet). This team will be presenting "Desiring God" by John Piper first, and they will do a great job with that. I would assume that your thoughts are this morning that this ministry is for hard core addicts and alcoholics to recover from their 'addictions.' That would be true, but is is far more than that. I thought I would send you a list of areas that you might want to consider if you feel a nudge to attend this ministry:
1. Chocolate -- You don't understand Tim; I need my chocolate -- or really any other food or types of food that may have questionable benefits to your health that we feel that we cannot do without (fried foods, high fats, sweets, the morning Mountain Dew, etc, etc, etc). Caffeine may be on this list; I fasted from coffee for a couple days last week and thought my head was going to come off. By the way, one piece of dark chocolate or a couple of cups of coffee (moderation) a day may actually be healthy - half the bowl or half the bag or 4 pots of Starbucks means that you might want to consider CA.
2. Desperate Housewives -- Missing cell meetings to make sure that you don't miss the season premier of DH or American Idol might be a possibility. How many hours are spent with your face aglow from High Def? I am a recovering sports freak; my moderation now means that I watch a few minutes of the Big Monday basketball games as a I prepare for church staff meetings instead of all three games beginning to end. Men are not off the hook here. If you just spent the football season watching all three games on Sunday beginning to end, we will see you on the 19th.
3. Church Work -- If your middle child asked you what your name was when you returned from the Beth Moore Bible study this week, cancel your entire church schedule except CA on Wednesday night and Sunday morning Celebration at The Bridge and do your Bible study with Johnny and Susie for a few months. You have made church an idol.
4. Promotion at Work or Next Business Deal -- nuff said. See you there.
5. Kids. Do you have your kids prioritized in front of God and your spouse? That is 6:30 on the 19th.
6. Technology. How much money does ATT actually make from text messaging? People do it during my sermons at The Bridge. May God smoke them (just kidding). If I had to listen to me, I might text message also (but someone would have to teach me, I have never sent one). I wish I had a dollar for the building fund for every e-mail I read a day. Think that Facebook might be an idol for some, Google surfing, reading blogs like this one? We have some members of our staff that just read this and signed up for CA. HAAAAAAAAa!
7. Yourself. -- Wanna test? Break down your prayer life: if 95% of your pl is "God, I need this. God, I need that. I need ________, Whoa is me," you may be addicted to yourself. Don't feel alone; we are all addicted to ourself. You can start your recovery by spending 90% of your prayer time telling God who you understand him to be, praising Him for that ID, thanking Him for what is right in your life, praying thru some scriptures, and shutting up and listening to Him. You can take the remaining 10% and ask God to help you and pray for others. Our sin nature means that all of us are addicted to ourselves, so everyone qualifies for this ministry.
8. Anything else that you place in front of God. 6:30 -- main building -- MAC -- March 19!

These eight concepts are probably much more dangerous than whiskey or meth or sex. Most of us who have had serious problems with those 'big three' knew that we had a problem; most who are dealing with these eight think that we are fine. Think about it. Would you rather overcome some fears and swallow some pride to attend a ministry that looks it is for those 'addicts,' or continue with these things that will limit your relationship with the King? Call 573-747-4044, or e-mail help@conqueringaddiction.com, or check out this website http://www.greatadventureproject.com/id2.html.

tim